Diffraction be gone

As an aside, my Von Schweikert speakers have a similar foam surround on the grill. I discovered that when I had the grill off, the sound image was blurry. When I put the grill back on, the sound improved. It was then I discovered that the grill had the foam surrounds. I am a believer in these types of devices, and I assume Albert Von Schweikert is also.

Interesting.

Do you have ASLT or 20-2?

Do you listen with the grill off? (grill should definitely be ON for the towers to avoid those sharp baffle edges)

How close are the speakers to side walls? (4 feet or more away is best)

FWIW: I found a significant improvement in clarity, definition and jaw dropping imaging - all by simply soffit mounting my ATC's - similar to what they do in studios for the mains (it was an expensive project however that nearly cost more than the speakers). With teh saoffit mount my observations were that cymbals sounded more open and natural and vocal/instrument locations tightened in the soundstage. I also found mid bass or male vocals improved their articulation, as well as a more tangible bass. Some GIK tri-traps helped with lower midbass definition/clarity too - although they had little effect on soundstage. (downside is that room modes became more of an issue with the soffit mount - so treating the wall behind the listener becomes important too - and more expense).

My very old Energy Pro 22's (I love these speakers too) had a circular foam surround around the "hyperdome" tweeter (it was about 2 inches wide but fairly thin - 1/4 of an inch of foam) - these speakers imaged like there was no tomorrow - so diffraction be gone is surely on to something! (The hyperdome was great but it was not that reliable unless you fed it really clean music - perhaps this is why Energy no longer make it - sending out replacement tweeters to keep customers happy must have been costly)

One word of caution, however, by adding this pad you will change the dispersion of the tweeter and reduce some of the baffle reinforcement (3 db boost). At the crossover of 3800 Hz, where the tweeter kicks in, wavelengths are around 4 inches - so anything within 2 inches of the center of the tweeter is likely to affect the primary sound too and not just the off axis/diffraction stuff. Above about 6 Khz the pad is probably doing what you want it to (reduce edge diffraction issues coming off the sides of the speakers box). Frankly, I'd check with ATC and see what they say - they consult for pro clients regularly - so I'm sure they have come across this and have an opinion. In essence, a 3db drop in the 4 to 6 Khz range may make the speaker sound less harsh or forward - and you might even like this too, however, you could also do this with an EQ if you wanted.

Here is a picture of the Dual Hyperdome Tweeter - so you get the idea. The faceplate was recessed so that the foam "gasket" sat flush with the baffle. When you consider that a tweeter generally costs a mere $25 in most speakers and that foam can be dented/scratched and will all to easily shows finger marks or will discolor with age - then you can understand why these extra details might be rare in commercially available designs.

Spicas, famous for their imaging, used thick felt pads on the baffles oftheir speakers. Same w/ Dunlavy,I think.